I am trying to develop a web-based multiplayer card game similar to poker, but with some changes to its rules. The game needs to be secure, so it needs a game-client for UI and actions, and a server-side for calculations and logic. The client will be developed either in FLASH or HTML5.
I've worked with PHP/MYSQL/JS/JQUERY for a few years, but I know that making multiplayer games with PHP is not efficient because it doesn't allow native long-polling and sending many requests every 1second to the server from the game-client, to update the data, would eventually kill the server.
I estimate to have at least 10000 active players at the same time once the game will be completed, or even more, because I already have an active community that will definitely like the game.
As an option for my current skills, there is this, but I wouldn't rely on it, as the developer says it himself: https://github.com/panique/php-long-polling
I really want to make this game happen, but I also want to use a strong and efficient language for server-side that could be maybe similar to PHP or JS.
I was thinking to try nodejs or lightstreamer.com, but they represent something new to me and it would take a good amount of time to master something new and if I need to do that, at least I want to make it worth it.
Do you think that there's something better for developing multiplayer web-based games?
Can nodejs or lightstreamer run on the same server where I run my website with APACHE/PHP/MYSQL, or should I go with a separate server just for the game?
What I would like is a server-side language for my game with the following features:
> -be well documented;
> -be secure;
> -permit long-polling and be compatible with FLASH/HTML5;
> -allow me to protect my code;
> -have a stable version and a few years of history as well as some big sites using it;
> -work with MYSQL;
> -be able to handle at least 10000 concurrent connections;
> -(optional)be able to run on the same server as my PHP/APACHE website;
> -(optional) - have the possibility to install it on my Windows PC, same way that I install XAMPP for local testing purposes
> -(optional) - be similar to PHP
Or should I just forget everything I know and go with JAVA for server-side coding?
Thanks
